Why new race control directive leaves F1 drivers facing tough calls

Before last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, new FIA race director Niels Wittich laid out the ground rules for how he and his colleague Eduardo Freitas are going to operate this season.

Wittich made it clear that the track is defined by white lines, while also stressing that, when drivers run side-by-side round a corner, the car on the outside has to be left space.

The FIA's new philosophy will also see reduced radio traffic henceforth between race control and sporting directors on the pitwalls.

One specific case that Wittich cited is that the race director will no longer tell teams that a driver has to give a place pack if he's deemed to have left the track and gained an advantage while making a pass, something that happened regularly in the past.

In theory, any such statement was always advisory, as the final decision with applying a penalty always lay with the stewards.

However, if former race director Michael Masi or his predecessor Charlie Whiting sent such a message it meant that you could expect that a penalty will be coming, and thus teams invariably obliged and told an often reluctant driver to hand the place back.

Sometimes any discussion on the matter dragged on for several laps, by which time the driver concerned might have passed other cars, making handing a place back to the car he'd passed illegitimately that much harder.

If the place wasn't returned, it would lead to a five-second penalty, and a penalty point on the driver's licence, for the offence of "leaving the track and gaining an advantage".

The new directive is quite simple. From now on the race director won't tell teams to pass a message onto the driver, or enter into any debate on the matter – it's up to the driver to know that he's in the wrong,